How to prepare your home for the piano crew: children, pets and access

Keep children and pets in a room that is not on the crew's route, with the door closed, for the duration of the carry. That is the short answer. The fuller answer covers why a clear route matters, how long you actually need to maintain it, and the specific preparations that make a piano move go smoothly at a family home. Piano moves start from £125 and the fixed price for your move is at book.pianospeed.com.

Why children and pets need to be off the route

A specialist piano crew manages a very heavy, awkward instrument under controlled load. An upright weighs between 180 and 300 kilograms. A baby grand weighs more. The crew distributes that weight carefully across two, three or four people and plans each part of the carry, including how and where to set the instrument down if they need a rest. A sudden obstacle, a child appearing at the bottom of a staircase or a dog running into a narrow hallway, forces an unplanned stop or change of direction. That is a risk both for the crew and for whoever appears in the route without warning.

The crew will do a route walk before touching the piano, checking the path from the instrument to the vehicle. That walk is partly about measuring the route and partly about identifying anything that needs to be cleared. Telling the crew at the start of the route walk that children or pets are in the house lets them confirm which room is safe and what to call out to you if a door opens unexpectedly.

Where to put children during a piano move

Choose a room that is off the route the crew will take. If the piano is on the ground floor and the front door is also on the ground floor, a rear bedroom or a room at the back of the house is the obvious choice. If the piano is on an upper floor, keep children on that same upper floor in a room that does not open onto the landing the crew will use, or downstairs in a room behind a closed door.

The carry itself takes between ten and forty minutes depending on the floor levels and the distance from the piano room to the van. It is not a long wait. If you have very young children who cannot be left alone, ask a neighbour or family member to sit with them for that window. A toddler who sees exciting activity through a glass door and pushes it open is the scenario to prevent. A closed door and someone inside with them is the reliable way to prevent it.

Older children who are aware of what is happening are easier to manage. Explain beforehand that the crew needs clear corridors and a clear staircase for a short period, and that they can see the piano loaded once it is outside. Most children are genuinely interested in a heavy instrument being moved professionally and are happy to watch from the garden or a window once the crew has taken the piano out.

Where to put dogs during a piano move

A dog in the route is the animal scenario the crew encounters most often, and it is the most unpredictable. Some dogs are calm and would not approach the crew regardless; others would run to a front door the moment it opens. The crew cannot know which type your dog is, and even a calm dog can spook if a heavy instrument passes close to it in an unfamiliar way.

Put your dog in a room off the route with the door shut before the crew arrives, not once they are there. This matters because the crew's arrival at the front door, with a vehicle on the street and unfamiliar voices, is often the moment a dog gets most alert. If your dog is anxious or noise-reactive, a room at the back of the house with something to occupy them is better than a front bedroom where the sound of the van and the crew outside is directly audible.

If your dog is in a garden that is part of the route, move them inside. A garden that connects the street to the property is sometimes the most direct path for a crew carrying a piano on a skid board, particularly if steps at the front door can be bypassed through a side gate. Confirm with the crew whether they want to use a garden route, and if they do, move the dog before that discussion happens.

Cats and smaller animals

Cats generally retreat when a front door opens and a group of strangers arrives with equipment. The practical risk is an open front door while the piano is being loaded. A cat that gets out through an open door during the job is a distraction the crew should not have to manage and an outcome you want to avoid.

Keep cats in a room with the door shut, same as for dogs. For cats that hide when strangers arrive, locate where they have gone before confirming to the crew that all animals are accounted for.

Small animals in cages, such as rabbits, guinea pigs or birds, are better moved out of the route before the crew arrives rather than left in a room the crew needs to pass through. A carry that takes the crew past an occupied bird cage repeatedly is stressful for the bird. Move the cage to a quiet room off the route and close the door.

Access preparations that actually matter

Beyond children and pets, there are four access points that slow a piano move when they are not prepared in advance: the piano room, the hall and stairs, the front door, and parking.

In the piano room, remove anything sitting on or against the piano before the crew arrives: sheet music, ornaments, framed photographs, a music stand behind the instrument. The crew cannot carry loose items and will have to remove them on the day if you have not. Also move any furniture that sits within about a metre of the piano and blocks the natural direction the crew will want to take the instrument out. The room does not need to be empty but the piano needs clear space to rotate or slide.

In halls and on staircases, remove anything that narrows the passage. Bikes stored in hallways, coats on hooks that project at head height, rugs that are not fixed down and shoes left on stair treads are all worth addressing the evening before the move. Prop open any doors along the route so the crew does not have to manage them while loaded. A door that swings shut against a moving piano is both a delay and a damage risk.

At the front door, check whether the door needs both hands to open or close, whether the threshold is raised, and whether the door frame is narrow. If any of these apply, tell the crew when they arrive rather than letting them find out mid-carry. Also check whether there is a step at the front door. Even a single threshold step affects how the crew approaches the exit.

Parking: the overlooked preparation

A piano loaded outside takes time. The crew needs the van close to the front door to minimise the carry in the open air. If your street has permit parking, timed yellow lines or a loading bay nearby, check what applies before the day and let the crew know when you confirm the booking. In many parts of London, a temporary parking suspension is the correct solution for a Red Route or a street where the standard loading hours do not cover the morning slot you need.

Outside London, most residential streets are manageable without a suspension. The crew will park as close to the front door as the street allows. If there is a drive, driveway or private parking area that gets the van closer, mention it when you book.

How long do you actually need to keep disruption in place

For a typical ground-floor upright collection, the carry from room to vehicle takes between fifteen and thirty minutes. For a first-floor upright, add ten to twenty minutes. For a baby grand, the disassembly and wrapping adds time before the carry begins. A full baby grand move from a first floor takes forty to sixty minutes for the carry stages.

The total job from crew arrival to departure is typically two to four hours for a same-day collection and delivery in London and the surrounding area. The disruption to children and pets is just the carry windows, not the full job time. At collection, keep the route clear from when the crew arrives until the van pulls away. At delivery, keep it clear from arrival until the piano is in position and the crew finishes wrapping removal.

Questions owners with children or pets ask most often

Can my child watch the crew work?

Yes, once the piano is outside or during any pause in carrying. The point to avoid is a child in the corridor or on the staircase while the crew is moving the instrument under load. Once the piano is on the skid board and stationary in the hall or outside, children can watch from a safe distance with your supervision. Most crews are used to curious families and will let you know when the route is clear.

My dog is very calm, does it really need to be shut in?

The crew does not know your dog and cannot account for how it will react to a heavy instrument moving through the space. Even a calm dog can make a crew member flinch if it comes close while they are loaded. The fifteen minutes of separation is a small inconvenience compared to the risk of an incident. Keep the dog contained for the carry.

We have a cat that hides anyway, do we need to do anything?

The main thing is an open front door. If your cat is likely to bolt outside when the door is open for a sustained period, put the cat in a room before the crew arrives and close the door. If your cat is somewhere in the house but not visible when the crew arrives, tell them, so everyone is aware there is an animal that might emerge.

The piano is in a room the children use every day, how do we prepare that?

Treat the piano room as a preparation task the day before. Clear items from the piano, move furniture that is immediately around it, and make sure the crew has direct access to all four sides of the instrument. Children can use the room as normal until the evening before the move; after that, the room is crew space.

What if a child or pet gets into the route while the crew is carrying?

The crew will stop. They are trained to set the instrument down safely if anything unexpected happens in the route. The piano will wait, the crew will wait, and once the route is clear they will continue. The issue is that stopping under load is harder than it sounds and is not something the crew wants to do repeatedly. Once it happens once, keep the door to the children or pet firmly closed for the rest of the carry.

Get a quote for your home move

Piano moves start from £125. The instant quote at book.pianospeed.com covers the floor level at both addresses, the date and a confirmed price. For anything specific to your home, call 020 7164 0000. PianoSpeed London Limited, 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ. Rated 4.9 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 77 reviews.